


Avenge the Fallen

by Steveuschrist



Category: Gotham (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Angst and Feels, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Episode: s04e22 No Man's Land, Hurt, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Possessive Jeremiah Valeska, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2019-12-26 13:20:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18283109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steveuschrist/pseuds/Steveuschrist
Summary: Jeremiah is ready to rebuild Gotham with Bruce. Then, everything falls apart.





	1. Chapter 1

Jeremiah was ecstatic. The bombs were placed. He had taken Bruce with the help of Ra’s al Ghul. He was going to watch with Bruce as the city’s bridges were blown, torn apart, obliterated. Then hopefully Bruce would see that they were meant to be together, that they were meant to dance forever. 

 

He wanted to watch the city fall apart alone, but he would have to settle for Ra’s and his men being there to watch, too. It was a shame, he was hoping by the time the last bridge fell he would be wooing Bruce over, kissing him with a passion, Bruce’s own fire coming out and engulfing Jeremiah. 

 

The bombs were still on a timer. They all were going to set off in succession, but Jeremiah needed to flip one last switch for it to happen. He wanted everything to be exactly in place, and he was still kind of hoping that Ra’s would pack up and leave him and Bruce alone for a few minutes. 

 

Bruce was going to fall apart, become strong like Jeremiah once he saw his city fall apart. He would learn that he and Jeremiah are stronger even together, partners who will have the other’s back until the end.

 

He was barely listening to Ra’s drag on to Bruce. “Gotham is soon to be each man for himself, a more savage place-”

 

Jeremiah heard heels clicking on the floor to their left. “Sound like fun.” 

 

He instinctively moved, pulling Bruce closer to him. Barbara Kean. 

 

Ra’s and Barbara speak to each other, Jeremiah looked at the knife, heard her words. Oh, she was here to kill him. Not that he really cared. As long as she didn’t hurt Bruce. 

 

“Hm.. that Demon’s Head’s not really working out for you, huh?”

 

Then there were people, shots being fired. Jeremiah pulled Bruce closer, right up against his front. He pressed his gun to his temple, not that he would ever shoot Bruce, ever  _ think  _ about shooting him, but it’s a precaution. He’s almost positive that Bruce’s brain would look absolutely beautiful, just like the rest of him, but he’d rather Bruce keep it in his head. 

 

There was fighting going on around them, Jeremiah didn’t want Bruce to get caught in the crossfire, then he saw Barbara moving on Ra’s. He pushed Bruce forward, firing shots at her. Then someone pulled on his arm, and his grip on Bruce was relinquished from the pain. He let go and was pulled towards the person- she had a whip. 

 

She pulled him in, wrapped the whip around his neck and pulled, squeezing. She dropped him to the ground, speaking harshly. “Just so you know, this is for Selina.” 

 

He reached back blindly, grabbing the knife he knew that she had on her leg, and stabbed her. She cried out, stepping back and loosening the hold she had on him. He brought her to the ground, holding the knife over her. “In that case.. It must be very disappointing for you dying like this..” She was strong, holding the knife back away from her eye, his target. 

 

Then he heard a sharp sound, felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. He rolled off of her, clutching his shoulder.  _ Penguin _ . 

 

He heard Bruce fighting, and a smile crossed his lips. His strong knight, his partner, his  _ Bruce _ fighting. He heard him grunt in pain, then- 

 

“What are you doing?”

 

He heard something go into someone, and he sat up, legs splayed, hand clutching his shoulder. Ra’s had been stabbed, Bruce and Barbara were holding the knife. Ra’s looked at the two of them. “Well done, Barbara…” 

 

Then, Jeremiah heard an odd noise. Wind? He looked over to his right, confusion hitting him. Wait, someone was  _ just  _ there, unconscious on the ground.. 

 

Penguin, Barbara, Alfred, and the dark-haired woman he was fighting earlier were all lined up, looking on in horror. Then- 

 

The dark-haired woman disappeared, the noise he heard earlier accompanying it. 

 

Jeremiah’s eyebrows shot up. What? What the hell did he just see? She just.. disappeared! What did- 

 

Everyone looked over immediately, Barbara covered her mouth, looking around. “Tabs?? Tabby?!” 

 

Jeremiah blinked, and suddenly all thoughts of setting off the bombs were in the back of his mind. What the hell was that? 

 

He looked over to see Bruce gripping Ra’s jacket, shaking him as he died. “What did you do?!” 

 

Ra’s laughed, and he seemed to grow smaller. “Oh.. those poor heroes.. It’s too late.. They  _ failed _ ..” 

 

“Who failed?! The hell are you talking about?!” The sound filled the room again, and then Barbara was disappearing, her skin falling away, but not revealing bone- revealing  _ nothing _ . She cried out, it creeped up her arms and legs, to her torso, then her head was gone. Penguin dropped to his knees, hands smoothing over the ground. Jeremiah looked at the ground where Tabs stood, seeing dust scattered across the floor. 

 

“The.. the mad titan..” Ra’s was shriveling up, not like how Barbara and Tabs disappeared, he was shriveling in on himself. “The mad titan has had his way.. I was wondering if it would effect this plane, as well..” 

 

“What do you mean? What did you  _ do _ ?” Bruce shook him again, then Ra’s was gone, and Bruce dropped his empty jacket. 

 

The sound hit Jeremiah’s ears again, and he looked at the unconscious people of both sides who’d been fighting. Some of them disintegrated too.

 

Suddenly Alfred was pressing his gun to Jeremiah’s head. “What did you do, you  _ twat _ ?! What did you pull?!” 

 

Jeremiah shook his head, holding his shoulder. “No, no, this wasn’t- this was not my doing, nor Ra’s’s..” 

 

He stood up shakily, looking at Penguin. “I.. I have no idea what’s happening.. I swear, I-”

 

“Uh.. Alfred?”

 

Jeremiah looked back over to Bruce, and his eyes widened in horror. The pain in his shoulder was forgotten as he ran to Bruce. Bruce’s hands were held out in front of him, and he could see his body beginning to disappear. 

 

No, no,  _ no!  _ __  
  


He ran forward, wrapping his arms around Bruce instinctively. “Bruce, Bruce, Bruce, hold on! Hold on!” 

 

Bruce looked at him, and Jeremiah saw the brave face that he’d put on the entire night was completely gone. His lips were trembling, his eyes were filled with tears. “J.. Jeremiah..” 

 

“I’ll- I’ll get you help!” Jeremiah said, feeling dread wash over him. His stomach plummeted, he had no explanation for it, no reason, no information, nothing. His own eyes began to fill with tears. “Bruce! Don’t.. Don’t leave me..!” 

 

Bruce collapsed and Jeremiah went with him, cradling him in his arms as he slowly fell away, staring directly into Jeremiah’s eyes. “J.. Jeremiah.. I..” 

 

“D-Darling!” Jeremiah felt tears slip down his cheeks. He felt so overwhelmed. Bruce was.. he was  _ dying _ and Jeremiah couldn’t do anything to help him! Was this his fault? Ra’s didn’t seem to have any part in it, but clearly he knew who had caused it. He stared into Bruce’s dark eyes, tear tracks falling back towards his hair, then he was gone. 

 

Jeremiah began to shake. He took off his gloves and ran his fingers lightly over the dust that Bruce had become. “Bruce… Bruce…” He let out a sob, inhaling sharply as he screamed. “BRUCE!” 

 

His love, his Bruce, his other half, was gone. Jeremiah was so alone. He didn’t have anyone. All he had was Bruce. He sobbed louder, it couldn’t be real, it  _ couldn’t be real!  _

 

He suddenly stood up, tears falling down his white face, and pulled the remote from his pocket. Alfred held out his hand. “Mate, don’t you dare-”

 

“He’s  _ gone _ !” Jeremiah let out another cry. “He’s  _ dead _ ! This- this trash hole of a city took him away from me!!” He was so angry, he was on fire, he was boiling. His mother, his brother, now his love. He flicked the switch on the remote, and almost instantaneously he recognized the distant sound. 

 

He looked out the window in silence, shoulders rising and rapidly falling. The bridges began to fall, one by one. 

 

“Jeremiah, what have you  _ done _ ?” Penguin yelled. “Who knows what happened- so many others could’ve-” 

 

“Bruce is gone.” Jeremiah’s voice was surprisingly soft, level. “I don’t care how many lives. I don’t care how many deaths.” 

 

The next bridge went, and he looked over at the two men. He felt empty. 

 

“I don’t care.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took waaaaaaaaaay too long.

Jeremiah looked everywhere. 

 

As soon as he gathered himself he met back up with Ecco. She’d seen many people around her disintegrate. Jeremiah was so relieved to see that she made it, at least he had  _ someone _ . 

 

The two set off together, into the area that would soon be dubbed as the dark zone. Ecco was strangely quiet, usually she had  _ something _ to say. It irritated Jeremiah until he could no longer stand it. “What is wrong, Ecco?”

 

Ecco glanced over at him, a strand of blond hair falling down her face. “Well, Boss, it’s just that.. you seem awfully down. That whole disappearing act give you a scare? Sent chills down my spine, that’s for sure.”

 

Jeremiah nearly stopped walking. That image, that feeling, would never leave him. “Boss?”

 

He walked with her in silence for a few more minutes before he spoke softly. “Bruce.. he was one of them. He.. he’s gone.” 

 

“Was it that Ra’s guy you’re working with?” 

 

He shook his head quickly. “No, no, just from the way he was speaking, I could tell it wasn’t him. But he clearly  _ knew  _ who did it.”

 

The streets were littered with brown dust and ashes of people attempting to escape the city, of cops who stayed behind to help evacuate. “What do you mean?” 

 

“He was killed by Bruce and Barbara Keane.” Bruce’s name used to be like sweet honey on his tongue, a syllable that held so much meaning to him, more than he could ever describe, but now it was bitter and stagnant, no longer sweet and smooth. 

 

Bruce was gone. He was dead. 

 

“Boss?”   
  


“Bruce.” Jeremiah gazed up into the sky. The sun was just starting to peak out behind the horizon. There seemed to be far more clouds around them in the early dawn than there were last night, the sun was being blocked. “He.. He was right in front of me when..” 

 

“Oh, Boss-”

 

Jeremiah held up his hand. “I don’t.. We are not going to talk about it. He.. could be anywhere, we don’t know. We’ll settle in a place, I’ll think of a plan, we’ll gather intel and find out just how many others are gone. We’ll find out their names, occupations, everything about them, connect them together, then figure out a way to find them.”

 

The pair walked for blocks, deep into the dark zone. Power had been cut from the city once Jeremiah blew the bridges, but they would be able to manage. It was around noon when Ecco spotted something on the ground and retrieved it: a radio. She turned it on.

 

“..far we’ve got reports that people all across the city are missing.” Jeremiah recognized Detective Bullock’s voice, only he sounded far more anxious than Jeremiah had ever heard him, even more anxious than when he blew up the clock tower right in front of him. “About half of my officers are unaccounted for.” 

 

“Still no sign of Jim?” The voice of a woman. 

 

“No, and no Bruce either. I’ve- hey, hey-” A slight pause on the other end as Bullock’s feed is cut. It comes back after less than a minute. “Alfred and Penguin are here at the station, Alfred says that Bruce got… caught up in whatever happened. You said Nygma just disintegrated in front of you, too?” 

 

“Yes, we were both going to stay it.. it’s complicated, but yes, he just was gone.” 

 

There was distant yelling on Harvey’s end that sounded like it was coming from Penguin. “Just.. regroup everyone that you can, come to the station, we’ll figure something out. We have to take a headcount, see how many people are still in the city. Harper is trying to contact the mainland right now..”

 

Ecco looked over at Jeremiah. “Boss.. you said that Ra’s spoke as if this weren’t his doing.. It was an outside force.. Do we even know the scale that it was on? It sounds like they still don’t know how many people are gone..” 

 

Jeremiah looked at her, brows coming together. “You really think that that matters now? You really think that I care about anybody else? Whatever happened took Bruce away from me!” He spread his arms and gestured to the empty city street. “All of this was.. was for him! And then he was just taken from me!” He felt anger rising in his chest, he felt something course through his veins. “He’s dead, Ecco! You should’ve seen his face- I just had to watch him die in agony!” 

 

Ecco reached out to rub his shoulder. “You loved him, Boss, I’m..” 

 

He patted the arm on his shoulder, sniffling and straightening himself up. “Now is not the time for me to break down. He wouldn’t want that, no. He would want me to.. to do what I can in this situation. If he was still here he’d be doing everything that he can to fight for what he believes to be right. So we shall do the same.” 

 

***

 

The calendars that Jeremiah and Ecco found after a few weeks helped prove useful to keep track of the days since the bridges blew. It was quickly discovered that not only had roughly half of Gotham’s population been caught up in what happened, but half of Earth’s population had been caught up in it. Jeremiah rigged a radio to listen in on the conversations that were taking place between Bullock- the new captain of the GCPD as Jim had vanished- and the US mainland. 

 

His own name was brought up more than once. Every day, Jeremiah woke up and planned to continue with his plans- to bring himself closer to Bruce through any means possible. The only problem was there was no Bruce to be brought close to. 

 

He marked down the days on the calendar, Ecco scratched tallies into the wall. They lived in an apartment together. Tetch lived in one not too far from them. The three of them watched as Penguin, Freeze, Scarecrow, and Firefly carved up the city. When Scarecrow came by, Tetch always giggled in delight and stood or sat next to him a little closer than necessary. Jeremiah easily was able to tell that they had formed more than just a friendship while working in the Legion of Horribles. It was funny how none of them had been taken by ‘The Incident’ as they started calling it. 

 

As far as anyone could tell, it was a one-time thing. No one else had suddenly disintegrated, no one else had come back. 

 

Jeremiah fell into bed one night. It had been exactly six months this The Incident. The world was so focused on the fact that half of the population had disappeared that reuniting Gotham with the mainland was on the back burner. He closed his eyes, sleep always found him rather easily. Jeremiah didn’t dream, but tonight was different. 

 

He found himself suddenly lying down on his back, which was thoroughly soaked. He sat up instantly, looking around. There was a haze all around him, of reds and oranges, a tint to everything that he saw. He looked to try and find a horizon, yet all he saw water, nothing but water and warm colors. He brought himself to his knees, then slowly stood, eyes darting around. 

 

Suddenly out of the corner of his eye he caught something. He turned to it and found himself looking at his office in the bunker, a few hundred yards away. Only two of the walls were put up, but all of his furniture was as he’d left it. He walked forward cautious, aware of someone laying on his work table. As he approached, the figure grew more distinct. He swallowed thickly and stopped just in-line with the edge of the wall. His plans and blueprints still decorated the everything. “Bruce?”

 

Bruce was wearing what he’d been wearing during The Incident, his black shirt hugging muscles up and down the upper half of his body. Jeremiah stepped forward around the table. He saw that Bruce’s eyes were closed, and he put his hand on his shoulder. “Bruce..”

 

Bruce didn’t even stir, so Jeremiah tried again. He shook his shoulder. “ _ Bruce _ .” Still nothing. 

 

He swallowed thickly and felt his eyes sting with tears. He settled himself on the table next to Bruce, reaching over and lightly brushing a curl from Bruce’s forehead. “I’m..” He blinked, his voice breaking. “It’s been  _ months _ . I.. Things weren’t supposed to turn out this way.. I was supposed to rebuild Gotham with you.. w-we were supposed to grow stronger together..” 

 

Tears made their way down his cheeks and his breath became shaky. “I miss you, so much.. I never got to tell you how much I.. how much I  _ love  _ you.. And now Gotham is cut off, the world has fallen apart and you’re not here to help me get through it..” He wiped his cheeks, not that anyone was there to see him cry, and he managed to pull Bruce up into a sitting position. He seemed abnormally light, like he hardly weighed anything at all. 

 

He pulled Bruce into his lap and held him close. Bruce’s head rested against his collarbone, entirely still in his arms. Jeremiah wrapped his arms around him tightly. “I still don’t know what happened, no one knows. Half of the entire population is gone..” Even in the warm light, Bruce’s skin still seemed porcelain, as pale as a doll’s and a sharp contrast to his dark clothes. “Why.. Why did it have to be you? Why wasn’t it  _ me _ , why wasn’t  _ I  _ chosen?”

 

Bruce still didn’t move, so Jeremiah simply pulled him closer, resting his head on top of his as he pulled him to his chest. His eyes had been opened, Bruce had been his purpose, but now that Bruce was gone.. what purpose did he have? 

 

Jeremiah suddenly narrowed his eyes. Determination settled over him. He would- 

 

He felt stirring in his arms, and he instantly looked down to the figure in his arms. “B-Bruce?” He felt more shifting against him, and suddenly, that head was tilting to look up at him-

 

Jeremiah woke up. 

 

He let out a yell of frustration and sat up, practically stumbling from sleep. It was day, he could see the sun peeking out behind the edges of the curtain in his room. Ecco came in, looking at him. “Boss, you ok? You have a bad dream or something?”

 

Jeremiah shook his head, walking over to her and past her into the rest of the apartment. “That was no dream, Ecco, that was  _ real _ .” 

 

She pulled on one of her buns. “What happened?”

 

“I saw Bruce. He’s.. something is off.” Jeremiah went to the cabinet to pour himself a drink. Ecco walked over to him cautiously. 

 

“Y-You’re sure? Boss, you know that no one’s seen..” She took a drink from him when he offered one to her. “Drinks just after noon?”

 

Jeremiah downed his, taking in a breath. “I am getting out of this city. I will find whoever did this.” He walked over to one of the windows, drawing back the curtain to look out at the street. “I will find them even if it takes the rest of my life.”

 

“‘Them’? Boss, we have idea if some _ one  _ did this, you can’t-”

 

He shot her a look and she fell silent. “I will find them and make them experience a pain unimaginable to any living being. They will understand the pain that they caused me and millions of others who lost loved ones. They may not know my name now, but they will.” 

 

***

 

Jeremiah looked down the tunnel. “Come on, now, chop chop! We haven’t got all year!”

 

He plopped himself back on his stack of boxes. Being in charge was so  _ exhausting _ . His 20 workers were beginning to move more and more slowly as the hours drove on, swinging their axes with less and less force. When would Ecco return with his new recruits? He needed new labor, he needed fresh bodies. 

 

Luckily it seemed like Tetch’s spell wouldn’t break any time soon. It kept their resolve strong, but sadly Jeremiah knew that they would all die from exhaustion, dehydration, or any number of other things. Perhaps Ecco’s roulette game would have to be stopped in order to gain more workers. He knew that she absolutely loved it, came up with the idea herself when he started his church and shot herself right in front of him to prove herself, yet they’d only been able to lure so many people in. 

 

It had been a month since his dream. They’d found a church, Jeremiah had candles and stained glass created in his image, promises of salvation in a desolate land riddled with memories of those who’d been killed and empty promises of reunification. The tunnel was being dug every minute of every hour of every day. 24/7, people were hacking away at the dense rock that would lead them out of this hole, and Jeremiah would set off on his true mission once he broke to the mainland. 

 

The only problem was that sitting around ordering others to work gave Jeremiah plenty of time to think, and his wandering mind always stumbled upon Bruce. For some reason, he felt like Bruce was right next to him, sitting on the boxes with him. He stared down at the surface next to his thigh, and he placed his hand on top of it. If Bruce were with him, his hand would be on top of his, their shoulders would be touching. 

 

What would Bruce think of him now? Sitting on top of boxes, hiding from the destruction that he caused with Ra’s? What would he think about the church? He would think it cruel of Jeremiah to offer false salvation. “No, no, darling. It is necessary. I mean, I can’t get off of this island by myself, now can I? You.. you do understand that, don’t you?” 

 

He heard footsteps to his right and he sat up straighter than necessary, turning his attention to the sound. He cleared his throat when he saw Ecco leading five people. She slipped off her mask. “Gotcha some more, Boss.” They stared ahead, clearly under Tetch’s influence. 

 

“Put them to work.” He said bluntly. 

 

She shot him a wicked grin before turning and pointing to the tunnel. “You heard the Boss, now get cracking!” They shuffled forward, and he looked her up and down as they picked up tools and went into the tunnel to work. 

 

“Ecco.. we need to have a chat..” She turned back to him, eyes wide. 

 

“Boss, what’s up?” 

 

“I appreciate your..” He briefly closed his eyes, trying to find the right word. “... _ flair _ , but if you keep up your roulette game, we’re going to run out of people to work. You understand what I’m trying to say?”

 

Ecco’s eyes fell. “Oh, w-well, I suppose that-”

 

“How many people did you manage to lure in today?” 

 

She looked back up at him. “Uh, well, the church had maybe 20..” 

 

Jeremiah gestured to the tunnel. “And you just brought me five. A quarter of that. You see my frustration?” 

 

She nodded, a frown plastered across her face. “Yes, I.. I’m sorry, Boss.” 

 

“No, no, you wanted some fun, I understand.” He crossed his legs. “If The Incident hadn’t happened then we’d have double the resources. Threw our plans for a loop.” 

 

She nodded pulled her hood down. “W-Well, I’m going to turn in for the night, you should, too.”

 

He waved at her vaguely, looking back to the tunnel. How long was this going to take?

 

*** 

 

Jeremiah crossed off another day on the calendar. Ecco scratched another mark into the wall. It was February, hints of spring began to peak through Gotham’s frigid temperatures. The last snow had melted over three weeks ago.

 

They’d heard talk of the military coming to Gotham to help it reunite with the mainland, apparently society was finally starting to get back on its feet and the government was able to designate resources to the city. 

 

Jeremiah lost track of the days easily. The tunnel was nearing completion at that point, they probably only had a month of work left. How far were they into February? He glanced at the day, and he instantly felt his blood run cold. His hand came up and he brushed his fingertip over the spot on the calendar. 

 

Ecco looked over at him. “Boss?”

 

“ _ February 19th _ .”

 

He would have turned 19 that day. He would have been an adult for an entire year, as if the responsibilities that had been put on him as a teenager weren’t nearly equivalent. He now knew Bruce for one year. 

 

_ We’re going to do great things for Gotham.  _

 

“We could, I really thought we would.” 

 

He turned away from the calendar, fist clenched. “We reach the mainland, we escape before the military steps in, we leave this city far behind.”

 

“Boss, what about everyone else? Penguin, the butler, the doctor? Scarecrow and Tetch aren’t going to join us, they have no issues with The Incident.”

 

Jeremiah passed her and she trotted behind him. “Penguin has power, but I imagine that he would like to get revenge for the Riddler. And I suppose Lee and Bullock would like the same for Gordon.” 

 

“We could.. actually ask any survivors if they want to join us.” 

 

“Ecco, I highly doubt that normal citizens will be able to help us in our search for the League of Shadows.” They had long ago come to the conclusion that tracking down the League would be their best move, considering Ra’s knew who or what caused The Incident. If he hadn’t died Jeremiah would’ve decided to find him directly, but hopefully it was knowledge that all of the League had. 

 

A few seconds of silence passed. “So a group of Gothamites is just going to pop back up on the mainland?” Ecco gave a small shrug. “Boss, if the government is going to reunify the city.. If our sources are true, then aid will be here in a few weeks, law enforcement specifically. Once reunification happens we’re-”

 

“We are most certainly  _ not  _ done for.” Jeremiah narrowed his eyes. He held a stare with her, before he cleared his throat and suddenly straightened up, smiling to himself. “We will simply finish the tunnel faster. I want a constant worker supply, the church has proven to be not quite as effective as I was hoping…” He slipped off one of his gloves and examined his nails for a few seconds, before putting his glove back on. “Go out with Tetch, find workers to help finish the tunnel. He and Scarecrow have been excellent allies to us throughout these months. Perhaps I shall reward them both handsomely.” He shrugged to himself, then giggled. “Or perhaps they will find themselves locked up in prison while we escape to track down the League!” 

 

She giggled. “Sure, thing, Boss. I’ll be back with hopefully some fresh workers!” She hurried off, leaving Jeremiah alone with his thoughts and the calendar. He sighed softly before turning away. 

 

***

 

Jeremiah wasn’t surprised that every weapon in the house was turned on him as soon as he set foot into the station. He took a breath, fingers splayed at his sides. “Everyone, is this  _ really  _ necessary?”

 

He heard someone on the second floor, and he looked to the steps to his left to see Harvey Bullock coming down them. “Valeska, the hell do you want?” Jeremiah glanced at the pistol in his hands. Harvey was acting tough, but he could hear the waver in his voice. 

 

“I.. am here to offer an alliance of sorts.” Jeremiah looked to the small crowd there which consisted of mostly civilians. Officers were sprinkled throughout them, guns raised. 

 

“An.. an alliance?” Harvey looked at him, a sarcastic grin coming to his face as he nearly doubled over in laughter. “An alliance? It’s been over a year of this hell that  _ you _ created and you want an  _ alliance _ ?”

 

Jeremiah let out a sigh. “We talk in your office, no tricks, you can shoot me on the spot if I try anything.”

 

“Hmm.. Nah, I think I’ll pass.” Harvey glanced to the group. “Anything you have to say can be said in front of everyone still alive here and now.” 

 

“Fine.” He straightened up. “I have a way out of the city.” 

 

The room burst into whispers, then yells. Jeremiah couldn’t make out exactly what was being said, but he knew that the room and everyone in it was suddenly ablaze. 

 

Harvey narrowed his eyes at him. “Very funny Valeska.” 

 

“It’s true!” Jeremiah spread his arms wide, and the crowd began to simmer down. “Haven’t you noticed the gradual decline in population here? The decline in people coming into the Green Zone for safety? That’s because if they’re not in a gang they’ve all been in the dark zone working for me!”

 

He heard someone shout to his right. “Where?”

 

“Ah, I’m glad you asked!” He grinned and clasped his hands together. “Just this morning we broke through the Wayne Manor’s basement! The tunnel runs under the river and leads directly to the mainland!” His grin only widened, talking in front of the crowd made him realize that his plan had actually worked out perfectly. “You all can come through and go on to the mainland and never return to Gotham ever again!” 

 

Harvey lowered his gun a little. “You still have plans to give Gotham a makeover..” 

 

Jeremiah giggled, eyes returning to the cop. “Obviously I’ll be taking my fair share of the city from all the other rogues running around, but yes, of course, detective! Remember, since the beginning, I never wanted anyone to be trapped here once I blew the bridges. Circumstances made me blow them faster than originally planned, but plans change!” He turned back to the group. “And with half of the earth’s population gone, I’m sure that there’s  _ plenty  _ of space for all of you in nearby cities!”

 

“You’re just giving us all a free pass to leave? That doesn’t sound like you.” Jeremiah glanced over to see Detective Harper had spoken up. “And what about when the government comes in to take this place back? You’ll stop them?”

 

Jeremiah chuckled. “No, no, detective, you see.. Once everyone reaches the mainland and we all disperse, the government  will have no need to bring resources to Gotham. They will simply let it rot, they’ve still got their hands full with the whole ‘population’ thing.. And besides, I’m leaving Gotham. I’ll return and continue my work when I’m ready.” He looked back to Harvey. “Which is what I  _ really  _ wanted to discuss with you. Alone.” 

 

Harvey glanced at Harper, to the crowd, then to Jeremiah. He spoke after a few seconds of silence. “Get up here.” 

 

Jeremiah marched up the steps, right into Harvey’s office. Harvey shut the door and turned to him slowly, arms crossed. “You want to leave, why?”

 

“To figure out The Incident, of course!” Jeremiah glanced at the bottles of alcohol on the filing cabinet. He looked back to the captain. He looked five years older, not one. “Harvey, listen. Ra’s clearly knew how The Incident happened, but he didn’t get to say anything before he died. He’s our best lead, therefore.. Ecco and I plan on going to find the League of Shadows. To get to the bottom of this and, if possible, reverse it.” 

 

Harvey stared at him for a long moment before he shook his head. “I need a drink.” He stepped over to the filing cabinet and poured himself something before sitting behind his desk and swigging it. He let out a sigh and stared at the empty glass for a few moments before looking back up to Jeremiah. “Let me guess, you don’t want just you and Ecco going alone.” 

 

Jeremiah shook his head. “I do not. Bringing every survivor from here would be impossible, but we can form a small group. You, Ecco, Lee Thompkins, Penguin, Lucius Fox, Alfred Pennyworth, and I.” Upon seeing Harvey’s expression, he let out a sigh. “I know, I know, Ecco and I wouldn’t work with any of you if we could help it, but we all have skills that can prove useful in tracking down the League.” Jeremiah closed his eyes. “We all suffered tremendous losses, and even though I’m doing this for Bruce and Bruce alone.. I understand that if anyone is going through even a fraction of the pain that I have over the past year.. it’s unbearable. I will give anything to have Bruce back, and I’m sure everyone feels the same about who they lost.”

 

“What, we escape, get on a plane to some place to track down the League?” Harvey gestured outside. “How do we know where the League is? What about the rest of them knowing what Ra’s knew? He was their leader, I’m sure there’s plenty of stuff that he knew about that the rest of them don’t! He was the leader of a crazy cult of ninjas, I’m sure he didn’t tell them everything!”

 

“I have one lead.” Jeremiah glanced out the windows of the office to the rest of the station. “When Bruce and I were.. In that time when we were working together closely, he told me about how he was kidnapped, how he was nearly brainwashed to let go of all emotion. He was.. He was in the mountains, taken, isolated.” His speech began to speed up suddenly. “If we can just find that place, the League should be there-”

 

Harvey held up his hand. “Jeremiah, I know that you miss him. I miss Jim, every damn day, we all miss who we’ve lost. But this lead is minuscule.”

 

Jeremiah suddenly slapped his hand on the desk. He stared at Harvey with wide eyes. “It was  _ not  _ Bruce Wayne’s fate to  _ die  _ because of some random occurrence! His destiny lies  _ here _ in Gotham!” 

 

He stepped back, rubbing a hand over his face. “You’ve known him longer than I have, you  _ know  _ that his life-”

 

“It’s not fair.” Harvey tapped his desk, not making eye contact with Jeremiah. “I know that. But we’ve all slowly accepted what happened. As far as we know, there’s no way to reverse it. Even if we track down the League, really, do you think they’ll be able to change what happened? Ra’s was powerful, but this was.. what happened was insane. Jeremiah.. it’s time to accept it. Move on. It’s what Bruce would want.”

 

Jeremiah didn’t want to admit that Harvey was right. Bruce would be adamant about moving on, about making sure that the people still left are safe. But Jeremiah doesn’t  _ care  _ about anyone else. He swallowed and met Harvey’s eyes. “What has the government said about reunification?”

 

Harvey sat back, glancing behind Jeremiah. “Just hopes that they can bring in troops soon. Remember, it wasn’t just the US that was affected, all countries were. A lot of aid has been sent to other countries who are doing far worse than us. Besides, they’ve been promising that help is on the way for months now. Thought they’d get it to us before the year was over and we all see how that worked out.” 

 

Jeremiah turned and paced the room. After a minute he finally stopped. “What I said before: gather your people, let them go through my tunnel to the mainland. No.. no alliance. The city will fall into full chaos, the government won’t bother to come in and save it.”

 

Harvey crossed his arms. “And you and Ecco go on the run from the government? Yeah, I don’t think so, you’re coming through with us, and I’m hand-delivering you to the government.” 

 

“Ecco may leave and run as she chooses, but I will be staying here.” Jeremiah said flatly. 

 

Harvey raised his brows. “You dug a whole tunnel and you’re not even gonna use it? You guys are gonna run out of food eventually. You can’t hide in this damn city forever, you know that.” 

 

“I’m not letting myself get caught. Not now, not after everything. Not when I’ve worked so hard.” 

 

The aging cop looked over at Jeremiah for a long time. He stood and went over to the filing cabinet to pour himself a drink. He downed it and stared into the glass. “I’m going to send everyone through. I know you want to stay here, or go off to track down the League, or whatever crazy idea you got in that head of yours, but you can’t promise me that the rest of the wackjobs running around here won’t go onto the mainland and wreak havoc.” 

 

Jeremiah blinked at him slowly. “I fully admit, I have no control over them. But they don’t know that the tunnel exists, neither does the government, but everyone here does.”

 

Harvey sighed, then finally let his shoulders drop. “Fine, fine. We take every civilian through, save as many as we can before-”

 

An explosion shook the building. Harvey drew his gun and passed Jeremiah to slip through the door. They looked out onto the station floor. Harper stood there, along with the other officers and survivors. They were all staring out the window, and Jeremiah found his gaze moving over. 

 

Outside, the air was smoggy. Harvey flew down the steps, going to Harper. “Harper, the hell-?” 

 

She shook her head. “We don’t know, there was an explosion, and suddenly we could barely see outside. I’m going out there- someone must’ve set off a bomb.” She headed to the front of the station, three officers tailing her, weapons drawn. Jeremiah heard something go off above him- a mechanical noise of some kind, but he was too focused on the small windows that shower the street outside. That didn’t look like smoke..

 

He realized that another officer brushed past him, and was going up the steps to the second floor. Jeremiah found himself walking down to the floor of the station. No.. that wasn’t smoke.. It was-

 

“Harvey, troops are moving on the city  _ today _ .” He finally turned and looked up to the voice. It was the officer that brushed past him. They were standing at a radio.

 

“What? They’ve been promising us help for weeks and they’re suddenly bringing it now? With no warning?” Harvey’s gun was still out, he signaled for the crowd to fall back. Jeremiah listened to the officer on the radio. 

 

“No, no.. we.. we have a few officers working on it now, it was an explosion.. Yes, it  _ was _ an explosion, we know that- ..What do you mean? No, there was a large blast, there’s smoke in the street, it was a bomb of some kind..! What? Jonathan Crane?”

 

Jeremiah whipped around, looking out the window again. The were dirtied, but he could tell that the air was tinted an orange-brown. It wasn’t a bomb. It was Crane setting off some of his gas. 

 

Jeremiah never told Tetch or Crane of the government speaking of attempts to reunify or aid the city. Crane was truly attempting to take the city for himself, having no knowledge that Gotham was being monitored. The government knew that Crane had just set something off.

 

“No one else leave.” 

 

Harvey looked over at Jeremiah. “The hell are you talking about?”

 

“It’s-”   
  


“Captain! Our contact is saying that a gas explosion was set off, it isn’t smoke outside, it’s Jonathan Crane’s gas!” The officer from upstairs shouted down to them again. 

 

Harvey ran a hand through his hair. “Holy Mother Mary..” 

 

“No, no! There’s civilians here-  _ we’re _ here, it’s not just Crane and Tetch and Valeska, there’s survivors here!” 

 

“Your people had their chance to leave. We’ve waited a year. Once the gas clears from the air, we will move on the city.”

 

Jeremiah pulled out his radio, turning it on quickly. “Ecco, Ecco, do you copy?”

 

“I’m here, Boss!”

 

“The military is coming to the city today, but it doesn’t sound like a rescue mission. I’m at the GCPD with a bunch of survivors, but we can’t go outside because Crane set off some of his gas!” 

 

“Ooohhh, so  _ that’s  _ where the orange boom came from! I was wondering about that! Wait, did you say  _ not  _ a rescue mission?” 

 

“Yes, yes, I said exactly that. Leave the island while you can, head to the mainland.”

 

“Boss, what about you? You’re trapped with everyone else because of the gas? I’m not leaving you!” 

 

Jeremiah paced. “Listen, Ecco. They said they’re coming into the city as soon as the gas dissipates. I can’t go out there, none of us can, you know how Crane’s formula works. We’ll just.. hold it out and try to sneak by the troops. I’ll meet you on the mainland, ok? Stay in the manor, hide there, it’s massive.” 

 

“But, Boss..” 

 

“Ecco, that’s an order, do you hear me?!” 

 

There was silence on Ecco’s end, before Jeremiah heard her soft reply. “I’ll hide in a closet upstairs or something. Good luck, Mr. J.” 

 

Jeremiah tucked his radio into his pocket and looked over to Harvey, who was on a radio with someone. “...Yeah, yeah, Crane’s gas, don’t let anyone outside.”

 

“Crane set off his gas? Is he attacking the GCPD?” It was Lee Thompkins. Jeremiah almost admired her ability to appear as if she was calm, her voice wasn’t wavering at all. 

 

“I think so, maybe, or maybe he’s just trying to get as many people caught in it as possible. All I know is that we’re taking everyone through the tunnel from under the GCPD. It follows the subway line, we can get around it, get to Jeremiah’s tunnel, get out of the city.”

 

“Jeremiah’s tunnel? What? That absolute madman has a tunnel?!” Ok, now her composure was blown a little. 

 

Harvey sighed. “Lee, I can’t explain now. All I can tell you is to try to get all of your patients out of the city into the dark zone..” He glanced over to Jeremiah, who promptly rang off the address without a second thought. “Right, yeah, did you get that?”

 

“Harvey, this is insane. I still can’t even wrap my head around the fact that the army is going to.. what, raid the city? Kill anyone still here?”    
  


“I know, but it’s all we’ve got. Our contact isn’t giving us specifications, but they’ve ordered the attack. We all gotta get to the dark zone and the mainland fast.” 

 

“Ok, I’ll.. I’ll see what we can do.” Really, the number of survivors was low. Hospital staff was even lower, Lee didn’t have much backup, but Jeremiah knew that Harvey couldn’t spare anyone to help her. 

 

“I’ll see you there, Doc.” 

 

Jeremiah blinked at Harvey. “This.. can’t be  _ everyone _ .” 

 

Harvey put his radio away. “Well, we’ve got-”

 

As if one cue, three men came bustling in through the doors of the GCPD. 

 

“I cannot believe that Crane managed to concoct some formula, some plan, some..  _ whatever _ in this hell hole!” Penguin’s near-shrieks echoed through the small building. “What kind of resources does he have? What is he trying to gain?” 

 

Jeremiah blinked slowly as Harvey stepped towards the trio. “Oswald, we’ve got bigger fish to fry.” Jeremiah wasn’t exactly invisible in the middle of the GCPD floor, pale face and dark hair and suit making him stick out, so naturally all three pairs of eyes fell on him. 

 

Oswald made a face that made it look like he’d just eaten a lemon. “And what is  _ he  _ doing here?!” 

 

Lucius Fox glanced back to Harvey, hands clasped in front of him. His chest rose and fell, clearly the men had been running. “Harvey, what could be worse than Crane setting off some of his gas? We were barely able to run through after going around the block, we almost inhaled enough to start hallucinations.” 

 

Alfred practically stared daggers at Jeremiah. Harvey sighed. “Valeska here apparently has a way out of the city. We’re going to all go down in the tunnel under this place and come out on the other side of town, get to the dark zone where Jeremiah’s tunnel is, and escape the city because, by the way, the freakin’ army is on the way to take back this place. Either they don’t think that civilians are still here or they don’t care. They probably think everyone aside from the nutjobs running around were killed in The Incident or have died in the past year.” 

 

Lucius gave Harvey a look of ‘disappointed but not surprised’. Oswald looked like he was going to burst a blood vessel. “Are you  _ kidding  _ me?! An attack on the city?” 

 

“Well, there’s no use just stayin’ here and not doing anything, come on.” Alfred spoke up promptly, not giving Jeremiah a second glance. “Alright, everyone, follow me, come along!” Harvey and Alfred began to walk towards the back of the station. “Everyone, over here, we’re evacuating! We don’t have time to waste, let’s move, people!” The group began to follow along behind them, Lucius simply shrugged to Oswald, who was still cursing under his breath. That man always had something to scream about. 

 

Everyone was accounted for, filing in a line as they made their way to the entrance of the tunnels. Jeremiah gazed around for a few seconds before softly sighing and jogging to catch up with them, right behind Lucius and Oswald. 

 

The tunnels weren’t exactly stellar. First, they had to climb down an old ladder to get down to the level of the subway, which the tunnels ran along. It wasn’t a sewer by any means, but moisture collected in a few piles on the floor. Jeremiah made a face, turning on his flashlight, as did a few others who had them. 

 

Jeremiah didn’t speak a word as they all went along, but he did hear a few conversations. Most of the people were asking about what was going on, why the military was coming into the city, or just where the hell they were going. Of course, Jeremiah’s mind began to wander, and it naturally fell upon Bruce. 

 

What would Bruce be doing right now? He’d probably be walking along in mostly silence, but he would be ahead in the group, looking out for the door that connects to the subway. After that, he would probably scout ahead for any dangers and figure out the best way to get out of the city. Always thinking ahead. 

 

They walked along for miles, until finally, they reached the door. Harvey hauled it open, and Jeremiah was certain that he heard Oswald complain about something else under his breath. The small group was led by a single light into one of the subway stops on the other end of the city, where the dark zone is.

 

Jeremiah doesn’t even bother to close the door behind him, and the group heads across the abandoned subway platform to the stairs that lead up to the street. 

 

“I reckon that Lee and everyone else from the hospital will be around here once we reach street level.” Alfred said quietly. 

 

“I hope so. I hope they all were able to make it out. I told her to go to the edge of the dark zone and to wait for us.” Harvey replied. 

 

Sunlight filtered in from above once they got off of the platform and made their way to the exit. Jeremiah made his way to the front and walked next to Harvey. “I can lead us from here, I just need to figure out where we are, exactly.” Harvey nodded to him, so Jeremiah went ahead, quickly ascending the stairs. 

 

He looked at the subway stop address, then glanced around the block. Yes, he knew where they were. He’d be able to navigate them, they were only a few minutes away from the tunnel. He nodded to Harvey and stepped out into the street, glancing around. “We’re right on the edge of the dark zone, my territory is farther in, we’ll have to move even more quickly.” 

 

They all set off again, Harvey urging everyone to pick up the pace if possible. They set a decent pace, but it was slower than Jeremiah hoped. After a few blocks Jeremiah caught sight of another group. He was just reaching for his gun when he realized that there weren't very many of them, and that they were all hiding behind abandoned cares and the side of the building that they were next to. A dark-haired woman peeked out from one of the cars, and then suddenly everyone was coming out to meet their group. It was Lee and everyone from the hospital. 

 

“Thank god, I’m glad you all made it.” Harvey gave her a small smile. 

 

“Yeah, I’m glad you’re all here, too. Glad the underground tunnels worked..” She looked around. “Wait.. this is all of us? At least half of your officers aren’t..”

 

“Ran out when Crane’s explosion went off. We didn’t know it was gas, yet.” Harvey sighed, rubbing his face as his smile dropped. “Harper and three others. We couldn’t wait for them. I’ve got no idea what happened to them. Alfred, Penguin, and Lucius were coming back when it was dissipating somewhat right outside of the station and they didn’t see them.” 

 

Lee nodded once. “Well, we’re not out of the woods, yet. We have to get out.” She slowly turned to Jeremiah, sighing through her nose. “Lead the way.” 

 

He looked around at their group and began to walk once he regained his bearings. “A few more blocks, but we’ll have to be quick. We have the military  _ and  _ the others in the dark zone to worry about.” 

 

It was late afternoon, the clouds that hung over Gotham almost permanently didn’t let any sunlight in. Jeremiah took the group down a few alleys, up a few blocks. It was close to twenty minutes when he heard shots being fired, and the entire group stopped. 

 

Jeremiah held his breath, trying to figure out where they were coming from. He nodded and continued forward. After hearing the gunfire, the group decided to hug the sidewalk. The problem was that the gunfire, although it wasn’t directed at them, was becoming louder with every building that they passed. 

 

Jeremiah’s building soon came into view. It was only a couple blocks away. “It’s that tall brown one, two blocks down, come on.” He stopped and glanced around the side of the building that they were hiding behind. He instantly pulled back once he saw that a group of soldiers were heading down the street parallel to theirs. He looked again, and this time he saw that smaller groups were breaking off and going into buildings to search. He glanced back to his building, across the stretch of road that seemed suddenly extremely long. 

 

The troops practically crawled across the intersection, but as soon as they had moved farther down the street alongside theirs, Jeremiah moved forward. He kept on glancing behind them. The backs of the soldiers were growing smaller and smaller as they crossed over the intersection and continued into the dark zone. He breathed a soft sigh of relief. Good, they’d made-

 

Suddenly Jeremiah heard a loud rumbling. It sounded like harsh taps, not like thunder at all, and for once the sky didn’t look like it was about to rain. A truck came careening around the corner of the block ahead, right next to Jeremiah’s building. The group dispersed, trying to split and make a run for it, but the truck stopped and soldiers came pouring out of it. “Everyone hold!” Harvey drew his gun, Jeremiah was pulling out his own before he realized it. He glanced around. 

 

“We might be able to-” He cut himself off when he heard weapons being drawn ahead of them, and he looked back to the soldiers. They were all drawing their own weapons as well. Two more trucks pulled up and more people flooded out of them, blocking off the entire street and slowly advancing up towards the survivors. 

 

They were outmanned and outgunned. Even with their shooting abilities, the soldiers were heavily armored. Jeremiah glanced around again. They were going to shoot everyone here, and even if they let him live, they would surely take him into custody. And what about Ecco? He could only hope that she already made it through the tunnel and would hear about him being captured, then go on the run. 

 

A tall man led the soldiers down the street. Jeremiah couldn’t make out his features from the distance between them, but the man had facial hair, and walked with almost a swagger of sorts. Oswald hissed up to the front of the group. “Let’s split, they’re going to kill us all!” 

 

“Oswald, they’re going to kill us all either way.” Lucius replied, calm and matter-of-fact as ever. “Stand our ground, if a fight breaks out we can try to use that as cover to run, but if any get on our tails we’re still sitting ducks.” 

 

“They knew we would try to avoid the center of the city, this might as well be an ambush.” Jeremiah muttered. 

 

The troops soon reached shouting distance, and they all stopped. Their leader spread his arms. “So nice of all of you to join together in one large group! Makes it very easy for us.” Jeremiah was pretty sure he saw him smirk. “The infamous Jeremiah Valeska.” 

 

“Who’s asking?” He narrowed his eyes, tone flat. 

 

“Eduardo Dorrance.” A hint of an accent peeked through the words of the soldier. He glanced around at the group, as if realizing something. “What are you doing? Why are you trying to lead these people to safety?”

 

“Because it’s the right thing to do and they shouldn’t even be in this city to begin with.” Jeremiah replied, practically spitting his words. “Something that you know nothing about, considering you’re about to kill us all.” 

 

Eduardo stepped forward slowly. “Well, you see, your little contact with the GCPD, my commanding officer, Secretary Walker, decided that, after The Incident one year ago, Gotham needed to go.” He shrugged. “I mean, with half of the world’s population gone, in order to reach a functioning society we need to weed out the weak and form a stronger civilization with stronger bonds. Losing half of the population really messes with the economy and the world order, you know?”

 

“Wait, wait, Walker’s been lyin’ to us this whole time?” Harvey asked, glancing between Jeremiah and Eduardo. 

 

“Well, she had to win you over and make it look like she at least  _ tried  _ to calm you guys down, didn’t she? The Incident threw society into chaos, but she at least wanted to make it look like she tried to calm Gotham down before it fell into chaos.” 

 

Jeremiah’s grip on his gun tightened. “Don’t tell me..” 

 

Eduardo laughed, the troops were now roughly ten feet away from them. “She wanted Gotham gone, so if she, say, convinced her fellow officers that Gotham was completely under and was only run by the criminals who remained there.. Getting permission for troops to be sent in to ‘take back the city’ would be rather easy, wouldn’t you say?”

 

A quiet fell over the entire street as realization began to settle. Alfred spoke first. “So you’re just going to shoot anyone that you find here? What, Walker doesn’t like Gotham because it’s a bit of a toss-up? Not exactly the most ‘productive’ city?”

 

“Actually, her father was killed just before the bridges were blown.” Eduardo crossed his arms, and Jeremiah’s brows came together. “Now, hand over Barbara Kean and Bruce Wayne, along with Valeska here, and you all will be disposed of properly, in the least painful way possible.” 

 

No one moved. 

 

Eduardo huffed. “Where are they? I don’t see them here in your crowd. Did you send them off somewhere? Perhaps with other survivors?”

 

“They’re dead.” Jeremiah replied quickly. He looked back over to Eduardo. “This is all of us. Everyone either died in The Incident or has died over the fighting here in the past year. I’ll fully admit, there are some people here who.. I could care less for. But these people here are all innocent. Go after the people who are the real ‘problem’.” He shook his head, closing his eyes. “Never mind, you don’t listen to reason, you blindly follow orders. Of course you do.”

 

“I see. Well, if she can’t have the two of them, then…” Suddenly all weapons were retrained on them. “..she won’t have any of you.” The group seemed to huddle together. Jeremiah’s grip tightened on his gun, safety off. He was not going to go down without a fight. “Fire on my comm…” 

 

Suddenly a soft whirring sounded throughout the street, like sparks and an electric current. Then, a bunch of bright orange sparks appeared right next to them, on Jeremiah’s left. The thing is, the sparks were  _ floating in mid-air _ , literally appearing from nowhere. “What the..” 

 

The sparks began to move out in a circle slowly, spiraling outward until it became a large ring, and before anyone said anything, something suddenly stepped out of the ring. Jeremiah took a step forward and looked over- what was behind the ring wasn’t the street, it was a flat plane with warm colors. He looked to the person who stepped out. They were tall and skinny with dark hair and a green outfit-

 

“Edward?!” Oswald cried out, suddenly coming forward up to the front. The man turned around to face them, and it was indeed Edward Nygma, green suit, glasses and all. “E-Ed? What- what happened to-”

 

The whirring was getting louder, and more sets of sparks were appearing all over the street. Harvey broke off from the group, looking up and down the road. “The hell’s going on?”

 

More and more of the rings were opening up around them. Jeremiah heard Eduardo yell out. “What is this?!” 

 

A ring on the other side of the street appeared, and it grew wider and wider as over twenty people filed out of it. At the back of the group was a very familiar police captain. Harvey gasped. “Holy.. Jim?! Jim Gordon??”

 

Jim looked around, confusion all over his face. He began to make his way over to the group. “Guys, what the hell-” His eyes made their way over to the troops, which were standing, now dumbfounded at the sight as more rings opened and more people filed into the streets. He drew his own gun, pointing it at the soldiers. “Harvey!” 

 

Harvey rushed over to him, pulling him into a hug. “Brother, where the hell have you been for the past year?” 

 

Jim glanced between him and the troops. “What do you mean? It’s only been a couple minutes.” 

 

Harvey sighed. “Look, details aren’t important right now, what’s important is that the army is about to kill all of us!”

 

“What?” Jim’s brows came together. “Kill everyone? Wh-”

 

“Jim? Jim Gordon?” 

 

Jim turned to the leader of the troops, eyes squinting. He began to walk forward, and the man took off his helmet, revealing dark hair. “Eduardo?”

 

“Jim, where the hell did you just come from?” He gestured to everyone filling the streets, seemingly appearing from nowhere. “Where are all of you coming from? Is.. is this everyone from the..?” 

 

He was cut off with someone coming through on his radio. “All units, I repeat, all units, something is happening. Everyone who was killed in The Incident one year ago is returning, I repeat, everyone who was killed in The Incident one year ago is returning, over.” A masculine voice came through. 

 

Jeremiah’s heart began to thud in his chest. “Everyone..?” He looked around wildly. Where was he?? The streets were filling with people, civilians and officers, children, the elderly. 

 

Lee walked over to Ed and Oswald, checking Ed over. “Ed what happened?” 

 

Ed shrugged. “Beats me. I was with you then suddenly everything got a little dusty. I wake up in a place, orange all around me. Actually, I saw..” 

 

As if on cue, another ring opened, and Barbara stepped through, Tabitha by her side. “That was kind of unpleasant.” 

 

Tabitha gave her a look. “Kind of?” Her eyes fell upon Oswald, and they narrowed. “ _ You _ .” 

 

Oswald waved his arm, pointing at them, then Edward. “Hang on! I watched the two of you die! And now you’re back?”

 

Barbara gave him a look. “Died? Pengy, we were gone for just a few minutes, we didn’t die.” Her eyes fell upon Jeremiah, and she gasped. His brows raised as she suddenly stepped towards him. “Come here, you son of a-!” 

 

Oswald held up his hand. “Wait, wait! He actually was-  _ is  _ trying to get us out of the city! If you didn’t see the mass of soldiers over there pointing their guns at everyone!” He turned to look at them all lined up still, but most of them had lowered their weapons in favor of staring at the sight of thousands of people filling the streets. “Well.. maybe not now..”

 

Jim glanced around. “Eduardo, what were you doing here?”

 

“Our orders were.. were to take back Gotham at all costs. Anyone left in the city was considered a liability and needed to be taken care of appropriately..” He gazed between Jim and the groups of people in the streets. “We.. we thought you all were dead.” 

 

“Dead? No, no. Or at least, we’re not any more.” 

 

The voice came over the radio again. “All units in Gotham, begin reunification protocol, I repeat, begin reunification protocol, over.” 

 

Harvey let out a sigh of relief. Jeremiah felt Alfred relax beside him. The others began to whisper and chat, mostly wondering if they’d heard that right. Jim blinked. “Reunification protocol? Wait, does that mean..?” He suddenly turned and stared directly at Jeremiah, pointing his gun at him. “Jeremiah!” 

 

Jeremiah opened his palms, but he wasn’t looking at Jim. Where was he? What happened? People were gravitating towards them, looking around, confusion running throughout the surrounding streets. Jim began to walk to him. “Jeremiah Valeska, as captain of the GCPD, I’m..”

 

Jeremiah heard a soft whirring sound to his right. The ring was angled so he couldn’t see the opening of it, but when it began to open he did hear a voice he recognized, along with one that he didn’t. 

 

“I.. I don’t understand.”

 

“You don’t need to now, but you will.”

 

“But.. what if I’m not ready?”

 

“You will be. You’ll know.”

 

Jeremiah’s jaw practically dropped as the man stepped out of the ring. He knew it was him just from his voice, but actually  _ seeing  _ him was something entirely different. He was wearing the same thing that he’d been wearing the night that the bridges blew. A few curls fell out of his meticulously gelled hair, he was looking down at something in his hand. 

 

“Bruce!” 

 

His name was said three times by three different men- Jeremiah, Jim, and Alfred. Bruce looked up, eyes coming to Alfred first. “Alfred!” He blinked, seeing the gun in his hand. “Why are you-?”

 

“Mate, oh my god..” Alfred shoved his gun back into its holder and he wrapped his arms around Bruce’s shoulder. “Bruce, oh, Master Bruce..” He pulled back to look at him. “You haven’t aged at all..”

 

“Why.. why would I have aged?” Bruce looked over to Jim. “What happened..?” His eyes fell upon Jeremiah, and suddenly he lunged at him, grabbing his shirt and pulling him. Jeremiah nearly fell over, barely standing up from Bruce’s strength. “What the hell did you do?” His breathing suddenly sped up. Their faces were mere inches apart. “Jeremiah.. Jeremiah, you didn’t.. Please tell me you didn’t..”  

 

Jeremiah couldn’t believe it. “Y-You’re alive?”

 

Bruce’s grip on his shirt tightened. “Of course I’m alive, now answer me!” His anger melted away a little bit, revealing sadness, despair. “Jeremiah..”

 

“I’m sorry, Bruce.” Jeremiah stared into wide dark green eyes. “Nothing else mattered to me.. I thought you were dead.. I thought something from the city took you, I had to do it..” 

 

“You didn’t, you  _ know  _ you didn’t!” Bruce punched him, eyes full of anguish. 

 

Jim stepped forward. “Bruce, easy, easy.”

 

“I was gone for  _ five minutes _ and this is your reaction?” Bruce holds his fist up for another punch, but Alfred grabs his hand. 

 

“Mate.. you’ve been gone for a year.” He said softly. Bruce blinked at him. “We all thought.. You died.. It’s been a year since the night you killed Ra’s.. a year since Jeremiah blew the bridges.. He’s been working on a tunnel and was leading us there to escape the city.” 

 

Bruce looked back at Jeremiah, letting go of his grip on his shirt. “How.. Why? Why change your mind?”

 

Jeremiah gazed at him. “You don’t know what it was like.. I looked for you for days. Once I realized you were gone I.. became desperate. I wanted a way out of the city so that we could track down the League of Shadows to hopefully reverse what happened. This whole mess happened instead, and on top of wanting Gotham empty in the first place.. I knew it’s what you would’ve wanted me to do.”

 

Bruce let out a sigh, burying his face in his hand. “I need.. I need some context on what I’ve missed.” Jeremiah felt his hands being pulled behind him, but he didn’t fight. 

 

“Jeremiah Valeska, I’m arresting you for acts of domestic terrorism.” Jim tightened the cuffs. “Anything that you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”

 

“Jim, we’ll take it from here.” Eduardo had walked over and was pointing a pistol at Jeremiah. “We need to take him into custody.” Jeremiah stared at him, eyes wide. No, no, he couldn’t be taken in! Not when Bruce was right there, not when they were so close!

 

Harvey crossed his arms. “I dunno, he’s on our turf, our city. We’ve got first dibs on him. He hasn’t operated outside of Gotham city limits.” 

 

Bruce suddenly stepped forward, tucking the object in his hand into his pocket. He grabbed Jeremiah rather roughly from Jim. “He’s mine.” 

 

Jeremiah suddenly giggled as Bruce pushed him forward unceremoniously. “Bruce, or should I say,  _ Detective Wayne _ , darling, are you going into law enforcement?” 

 

Bruce grabbed his cuffs and held them, at that point he was just pretending to push Jeremiah, because he was happily walking along, leaving everyone behind them. People began to cheer as they walked down the streets to the station, miles away. Eventually Bruce was walking alongside Jeremiah, and Jeremiah couldn’t take his eyes off of him. He looked beautiful. “Well, Detective?”

 

“I’m not letting you off the hook, you know.” Bruce said softly, looking ahead of them. 

 

“I’d hope not. You are my best friend, after all. We need to hold each other accountable.” Jeremiah grinned. 

 

“..Has it really been a year?”

 

Jeremiah’s face fell a little. “Oh, Bruce, darling.. I looked everywhere for you. I gave up after hours of searching, but I always hoped that I’d find you while I was out.”  

 

Bruce was silent for a few minutes. “Why do you call me that?”

 

“Because I love you. I never stopped.” 

 

Bruce let out a sigh. “Jeremiah, you’ve killed so many people.. You’ve changed and brought so much pain to this city.” He shook his head. “I miss the old you. I love Jeremiah Valeska, not.. not whoever Jerome made you to be.” 

 

They had time. If everyone truly was back from the dead from The Incident, then Gotham would get back on its feet soon. People would begin to get back into society. Help would be brought to the city, things would slowly return to normal. Jeremiah took in a breath, then released it slowly. “That’s a start.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading!  
> I started on this chapter the day that Endgame came out, now it's almost two months later. Granted I did finish my school year in that time, and I was writing a final piece for my Creative Writing class which basically sucked away all of my creative energy from fics for pretty much most of May, but I finally got this out. I honestly had a lot of ideas, originally there was gonna be a massive team-up alliance like Jeremiah suggested, then I took it out because I knew it would be too much for me to write, then I was going to end the fic on a final fight after everyone came through the portals, but I figured the army would hold back once the entire population came back. I'm not super proud of this one at all, to be honest, but I think it was more the idea/crossover that was the actual point. Plus I got some good Jeremiah moments in.  
> I should be posting more stuff once July rolls around with the other two WIPs that I've got going on (I didn't forget about either of them, don't worry, I know it's been a hot minute!) and once I get at least one more chapter out for both of those I'll start on my super-secret fic that I've gotten inspiration for in the past couple weeks. Keep in mind that for my Telltale Batman crossover I initially was gonna discontinue it, but so many people liked it that I'm going to keep it going. I'll figure out something halfway decent that follows 100% Gotham logic, I'm sure.  
> Anyway, that's it from me! Comments and kudos appreciated as always guys! Let me know how you liked this one, I know it was lacking but I tried my best!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading!! Based off of this post I made back in January http://steveuschrist.tumblr.com/post/182040752169/gotham-au-no-mans-land-still-happens-but  
> Finally got around to writing it :0!! I've been working on (and just finished today) a small thing for myself, so that's why updates have been a bit iffy. I hit a wall with the crossover but I'm hoping to fix that this week and get chapter 4 out... sometime. I'm still open to requests, I have a bunch of ideas up in this big ol noggin of mine. Kudos and comments always appreciated!


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